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Sunday, August 31, 2014

GHQ "Big E" Miniature Review

Things have definitely slowed down for me on the hobby front recently but I was inspired by the the great World War II Central blog and painted a a GHQ Micronaut 1/2400th scale USS Enterprise CV-6, the "Big E." The World War II central blog showcases some mind-blowing painting of some smaller scale miniatures by GHQ. What really impressed me are the decals that are available and I had to give it a try. I followed the tutorial with the following results:

I ordered the miniature from Noble Knight Games since I had a coupon from a previous purchase and they seem to have good stock of this miniature range. The miniature arrived promptly in the mail.

I purchased the decal on eBay using the link provided on the decal page and it arrived quickly in a letter envelope in the mail:

I received both of the available decals. I'm not sure why?

I also purchased the supplies I did not already have in the tutorial, the enamel. I always tend to agonize over the colors, so I went with the tutorial recommendation.

I did have some concern using laquers over enamel due to paint blistering but some internet research indicated using Testors' brand for both would not be an issue. I had none.

I assembled the miniature per the instructions provided with no problems and minimal cleaning of mold lines and flash.

I primered the model with the enamel with the smell of the enamel bringing back an old memory I couldn't quite put my finger on. It's funny how smells can trigger memories. I quickly realized I needed to hold the spray can further away from the model than I was typically used to and the enamel paint went on nicely. I left it for 24 hours to dry.

I then coated the mini with Testors Glosscote and trimmed the decal. The decal wasn't too hard to trim. I used a combination of sharp scissors and a sharp hobby knife. Since I didn't want to get the wash on the decal, I went ahead and added a black was to the appropriate places and then decided to also highlight the mini before adding the decal also.

The wash and highlight color, Light Grey and then Light Grey with White.:

I carefully placed the decal, using Microset and Microsol per the tutorial and then gave the mini a decent coat of Testors Dullcote to finish.

Overall, I'm very happy with the results but I can see where I could improve, a good test fit of the decal is crucial. I didn't paint the planes yet. I'm considering mounting them on stands per examples I saw on the blog. Especially if I end up using a rules set. I can see myself painting more, especially since it was relatively quick project.

I took this picture before the final highlight was added. The mini is bigger than I expected:

The decal was $6.75 after shipping. So, pretty expensive. But it does look cool, my lighting doesn't do it justice. I would like to do the Battle of Midway at some point but I'll stick with FOW for now. So much to paint for that still.